The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.5 percent to 324.70
at the close of trading in London. The benchmark gauge rose for
six straight weeks as signs emerged the Federal Reserve won’t
rush to reduce the pace of its stimulus, outweighing data that
showed the euro-area economic recovery is faltering.

“Investors will watch the U.S. this week, with a special
focus on the last meeting of the Fed that will feed debate on
the development of monetary policy,” said John Plassard, vice
president at Mirabaud Securities LLP in Geneva. “We are also
expecting several economic data out of Europe this week, which
market participants are waiting for. We’ll see a wait-and-see
attitude until the data give us a clearer direction.”

The volume of shares changing hands in Stoxx 600 companies
was 19 percent lower than the average of the last 30 days,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

FOMC Minutes

The FOMC will release minutes from its Oct. 29-30 meeting
on Nov. 20. The minutes will probably reveal more details on the
debate behind the decision to press on with the record $85
billion in monthly bond purchases. Economists in a Bloomberg
survey estimate that policy makers will wait until a March 18-19
meeting to begin tapering monthly buying to $70 billion.

In Europe, a report on Nov. 21 may show that a composite
index of euro-area services and manufacturing rose to 52 this
month from 51.9 in October.

The lender will receive a 9.9 percent stake in Scotland’s
largest money manager, the companies said in a statement today.
Aberdeen may pay a further 100 million pounds in cash over five
years depending on the performance of partnership under which
the fund manager will manage assets on behalf of the bank.
Lloyds climbed 1.1 percent to 76.2 pence.

Sonova, Peugeot

Sonova advanced 5.4 percent to 124.70 Swiss francs after
predicting that annual earnings before interest, taxes and
amortization would grow as much as 14 percent, compared with a
previous forecast of 9 percent to 13 percent. Sales will
increase 8 percent to 10 percent, up from an earlier projection
of 6 percent to 8 percent.

The company also said revenue in the first half amounted to
947.8 million francs ($1.04 billion), exceeding the 926.6
million francs analysts had estimated.

Medica SA jumped 4.8 percent to 21 euros. Korian agreed to
buy Medica for 1.1 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in a deal that
will create the largest French operator of nursing homes. Medica
holders will receive Korian stock valued at about 23.01 euros a
share, the companies said in a statement today. That’s 15
percent above Medica’s closing price on Nov. 15. Korian declined
2.8 percent to 24.61 euros.

RWE AG jumped 5.9 percent to 27.78 euros after Exane BNP
Paribas raised Germany’s second-biggest utility to outperform
from neutral, meaning investors should buy the stock, saying
power prices in Germany have troughed and the group should
benefit from a favorable outcome to German nuclear litigation.

EON SE climbed 4.1 percent to 14.05 euros.

Petrofac sank 17 percent to 1,200 pence, the biggest drop
in the Stoxx 600, after the company predicted its profit growth
will be “flat to modest” in 2014.

Shares of Neste Oil Oyj declined 8.9 percent to 14.28 euros
after Citigroup Inc. cut Finland’s only oil refiner to sell from
neutral, citing a deterioration in key profitability drivers for
both renewable and refining divisions.

Aveva Group Plc fell 7.8 percent to 2,365 pence. The
provider of information-technology systems said first-half
revenue amounted to 108.5 million pounds, falling short of the
109.8 million pounds analysts had projected.